Bailey Morgan [2] Fate Read Online Free PDF Page A

teaching Delia words like
self-deprecating.
”
    Without missing a beat, Delia and A-belle looked at each other and then both launched pieces of their lunch at Zo.
    Number of food fights this lunch period: two.
    Number of people at nearby tables who were giving the four of us sketched-out looks: seven.
    Number of food objects Zo caught and subsequently ate with little or no ado: both of them.
    “I'm going to miss you guys so much next year.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and the others groaned.
    “No moping.” The three of them spoke in perfect unison. We were only a month into senior year, and already my friends had made up a No Moping rule for me—no moping about ex-boyfriends, no moping aboutthe fact that I didn't have a cabana boy, and especially no moping about the fact that life as we knew it was eight months away from over.
    The punishment for moping varied, but based on the maniacal glint in Zo's eyes and the fact that I'd psychically teased Annabelle once already this lunch period, I could sense a tickling of epic proportions coming my way.
    “No moping,” I agreed quickly. “I just love you guys.”
    “Awwwwwwww,” they chorused, but Zo wasn't looking any less evil.
    “You're going to torture me no matter what I say now, aren't you?” I tried to resign myself to this fate.
    “Yup.”
    “Totally.”
    “Indeed.”
    “Ack!” That last one was me as Zo started their collective tickling onslaught. Two minutes later, they finally decided I'd had enough.
    “You're sadists,” I said. “All of you. I see pop quizzes and awkward blind dates in your future.”
    Since they knew as much about my visits to the Nexus as I did, they took my threats somewhat less than seriously. After all, if I'd actually been able to change their fates—or mine—we wouldn't have needed a No Moping rule in the first place.
    “So,” Delia said, content to change the subject now that I'd paid for my moping crimes, “anybody else have a geek sighting to report?”
    Zo glanced pointedly at Annabelle.
    “Oh, you,” Annabelle replied with a faux chuckle. “That's one of those witty insult things, isn't it?”
    Delia let out an exasperated sigh. “Focus, people. Annabelle isn't a geek, and more important, she isn't male.”
    “Thanks,” A-belle said. “I think.”
    “So far we have Cryptic Geek Guy,” Delia continued, “and I've identified a possible Musician Geek Guy in my math class, as well as a geek of unknown categorization who looks exactly like that guy from that one show.”
    Specificity wasn't Delia's strong suit.
    “That's three geeks, and there's four of us, so we need at least one more.”
    “How egalitarian of you,” Annabelle said, a wry smile playing across her lips.
    “You know, Queenie, this is going to be really hard, but I think I can do without my own geek.” Zo did her very best to look self-sacrificing.
    Delia snorted. “Nice try.”
    It would have taken a braver person than me to tell Delia that she couldn't just assign each of us a personal geek the way we sometimes let her play dictator with our wardrobes. As far as I'd been able to tell, the boy in study hall wasn't interested in me at all. He'd just been interested in my tattoo.
    And that led me back to the thoughts that I'd been dwelling on all morning. Who was this kid? Why hadn't I ever seen him before? Our school was big, and I wasn't exactly observant, but shouldn't I have noticedhim at some point over the past four years? And how in the world had he recognized the symbol? Oakridge High didn't even offer Latin, let alone more esoteric dead languages.
    And yet …
    If there was one thing I'd learned from being the Third Fate, it was that there was no such thing as coincidence. The pattern was what it was, and everything happened for a reason.
    “You think we have time to run by Escape before fifth period?”
    Zo groaned at Delia's question. Shopping wasn't Zo's cup of tea any more than chili cheese fries